One such construction which has been proposed hitherto has respective bobbles at the end of the legs, and these bobbles touch one another so that a fishing line can be captured between the legs, but can be jerked away by an angler so that, with sufficient force, the line slips between the two bobbles.
Such a releaseably retaining device is useful on a bite indicator of the kind which moves when a bite occurs, such movement being caused by movement of the fishing line.
A problem encountered by such a construction is that the line may snag when a bite occurs, irrespective of whether the line is being put under greater tension or less tension by the fish. In addition, it is difficult on the one hand to achieve a free running of the line through the retaining device whilst obtaining a positive hold on the line until a strike by the angler is made, at the same time achieving readily the release of the line from the retaining device upon a strike.